A Fulton County judge had no choice last month but to release the man who allegedly shot and killed State Trooper Chadwick LeCroy a couple weeks later, the county’s chief judge said tonight. Gregory Favors was freed on a signature bond not because of “judicial whim or an adherence to some arbitrary self-imposed rule,” but because judges “have a duty to uphold the rule of law,” Judge Cynthia D. Wright wrote in a letter to Fulton County citizens.

Former state Rep. Roger Byrd pleaded guilty Aug. 18 to two counts of theft by taking and was ordered to pay $210,000 in restitution. Byrd got 20 years on probation, but no prison time if he repays the money within 30 months. (If not, he would go to prison for 4 1/2 to 5 years.) Prosecutors said Byrd took $100,000 from the Jeff Davis County Development Authority and another $100,000 from a relocated manufacturer that folded after less than a year, leaving the authority mre than $2 million in debt.